From STEP File to Priced CNC Quote in 60 Seconds: How It Works

Here is the whole thing in one sentence: you drop in a STEP file and the 2D drawing, and about a minute later you have a branded, priced PDF your customer can accept with one click.

That minute replaces an afternoon. Below is exactly what happens inside it — narrated honestly, without the magic-wand hand-waving — and the manual version of each step it stands in for.

Step 1 — Upload (the STEP, and the drawing if you have one)

You drag in the STEP file. If you also have the 2D drawing as a PDF, drop that in too. Multiple parts in one RFQ? Add them all — they’re handled together.

By hand, this is where the afternoon starts: opening each model, cross-referencing the drawing, and keeping a mental map of which note applies to which part.

Step 2 — The AI reads the part

This is where modern quoting earns the word “AI.” Two things happen in parallel:

• Feature recognition from the geometry. Best-in-class AI models read the STEP and identify the machinable features — the holes, pockets, faces, threads and the harder 5-axis geometry — directly from the CAD. Not a human squinting at a model; the software reading the actual geometry.
• Drawing intelligence. The 2D drawing is read for the things the model doesn’t carry: thread specs, tolerance callouts, surface-finish symbols and the notes that move the price — heat treat, plating, inspection.

The two are merged into one complete picture of what has to be made. Anything the system isn’t sure about, it surfaces as a question rather than guessing — so you’re never silently over- or under-quoting on a misread feature.

By hand: reading geometry by eye and transcribing the drawing is slow and is exactly where things get missed at 5pm.

Step 3 — Your shop prices it

Now the important distinction. The price is not an AI’s opinion. Once the features are known, a deterministic engine — fixed, transparent formulas — prices the part against your shop:

• Material — stock size and volume against your cost per kg.
• Cycle time — feeds and speeds for each operation, on the machine you’d actually run it on, with its real rates.
• Setup — amortised across the batch quantity.
• Tooling and secondary operations — wear, finishing, outside processes.
• Overhead and margin — your configured numbers.

Each comes out as a separate, reviewable line item. Change the quantity and the per-part price updates with the right batch economics. This is the part you want to be repeatable and auditable — so it’s a calculation, not a guess.

By hand: the spreadsheet. Feeds-and-speeds lookups, cycle-time arithmetic, rolling it all up — and hoping today’s version of the spreadsheet matches last week’s logic.

Step 4 — DFM checks before you commit

Because the software has genuinely read the part, it can flag manufacturability problems before the quote leaves the building: a tolerance that’s tight for the feature, a thin wall, an ambiguous callout. Better to catch it now than after you’ve won the job at the wrong price.

By hand: these get caught by experience — when there’s time to apply it.

Step 5 — A branded quote your customer can accept online

Out comes a clean PDF with your logo, VAT, bank details, lead time and ship date. The customer opens a link and accepts — or declines with a reason — and you see it live. No back-and-forth email thread, no chasing.

By hand: building the document, formatting it, sending it, and waiting.

The minute vs. the afternoon

Stacked up, the manual version of those five steps is one to three hours for a single non-trivial part, and more for a multi-part RFQ. The automated version is about sixty seconds of compute.

The point isn’t the stopwatch — it’s what the minute frees up:

• Same-day replies. Often within minutes, while the customer is still choosing a supplier.
• Your estimator’s afternoon back. Spent on the few quotes that genuinely need judgement, not on arithmetic.
• Consistency at volume. The twentieth RFQ of the day is priced as carefully as the first, because it’s the same engine every time.

And nothing about the speed takes the decision out of your hands: you review the breakdown, adjust anything you want, and send it under your name. The software does the afternoon’s toil; you keep the judgement.

That’s the sixty seconds. The rest of the afternoon is yours.